Hodgson wants to make inmates pay

More than four years after a Superior Court judge ruled his $5-a-day inmate fee was unlawful, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson is hoping newly crafted legislation will bring that fee back — and new ones with it.

More than four years after a Superior Court judge ruled his $5-a-day inmate fee was unlawful, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson is hoping newly crafted legislation will bring that fee back — and new ones with it.

The 2004 case that pitted a number of inmates against the sheriff for his “pay to stay” fee is still under appeal. Hodgson said he has $750,000 from the 2002-2004 program in escrow awaiting the outcome of the appeals process.

He said with programs across the state getting cut due to dwindling state revenue, now is the time to make the prisoners start paying for their actions instead of taxpayers.

Hodgson said at the Bristol County House of Correction it costs taxpayers about $35,000 per prisoner each year just for the general costs to house an inmate.

In a bill sponsored by state Rep. Elizabeth Poirier, R-N. Attleboro, Hodgson is suggesting a daily $5 custodial fee, along with $5 for each sick call or dental visit, a prescription eyeglasses fee and a $3 co-pay for prescription drugs. Poirier said if passed, it will work to mitigate the costs and expenses of incarceration and allow the commissioner of corrections and sheriffs of all Massachusetts counties the power to the schedule the fees.

Services that will be exempt from fee assessment include admission health screening, emergency health care, prenatal care, follow-up visits approved by health services and chronic disease care. Poirier stressed that the bill would not apply to any federal inmates, detainees or regional lock-up inmates.

“It’s a huge expense, and I see no reason why we can’t charge this minimal amount toward a prisoner’s care,” said Poirier. “We’re talking about raising $10 million over just one year during a time when we need to produce as much revenue as possible.”

James Pingeon, Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services Inc. Director of Litigation, who is representing the inmates suing the sheriff over the 2002-2004 fees, said that without a system where the inmates can work within the prisons to make money to pay for their daily fees, it will create a two-tier system made up of inmates who can afford to pay and get the extras and those who can’t.

“The consequence of that is strong-arming within the prison, where fighting would break out, which could make it very dangerous for staff and other prisoners,” said Pingeon. “There is already legislation in place that is very carefully written that tells (prison administrators) when they can charge a prisoner money, but it limits the money to what a prisoner makes at a job. If they don’t have the job, they will make their family pay.”

For those prisoners who cannot pay their bills, no medical services will be withheld, Hodgson said, but a running tab will accrue and each inmate will receive a final bill when they leave the prison. There is one catch — if they stay out of trouble for two years, they don’t have to pay it.

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But inmates who don’t pay their bills won’t be able to buy candy and other treats at the canteen, which put the focal point last time around on inmates asking families to pay their fees in order to continue to purchase sweets and candy at will. Hodgson said families are discouraged from paying any inmates fees so that like people on the outside struggling to pay bills before purchasing a luxury item, prisoners will have to budget or do without.

“Keep in mind that its no different than anyone else wanting to go to a candy shop that can’t afford it. If they don’t have the money, then they can’t buy these extra things, and if they do have the money, they’ll have to pay their bill first,” said Hodgson. “They have to realize that coming into prison isn’t a free ride.”

Other county sheriffs agreed with Hodgson, seeing the fees as a way to offset growing costs at a time when state officials are looking for any opportunity to cut spending.

Barnstable County Sheriff James M. Cummings said he was charging a $5 medical co-pay to all prisoners from 1999 until the Superior Court decision came down on Hodgson in 2004.

“I think its a good idea. Everyone else has to pay a co-pay when they go to the doctors. It helps the prisoners to take responsibility for their incarceration, because those are expenses — like if someone needs a dialysis — that come right out of our operating budget,” said Cummings. “We used that money to provide training for the nurses and other programs, so the inmates were really getting that money right back.”

Norfolk County Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti said many sheriffs are looking to potential fees for inmates to help chip away at budget shortfalls. Bellotti, along with state Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Braintree, is proposing his own legislation for county prisons that will implement an administration processing fee, a hair cutting fee, medical co-payments and a fee assessed for damage incurred to county or state property.

Like Cummings, Bellotti had formerly charged prisoners a fee, including a $30 administration fee just for stepping foot in the jail and $5 medical co-pays, that went on for two years until the 2004 ruling.

“In these difficult economic times, we don’t have the luxury of a certain level of tax dollars that we’ve had in the past, and everyone is going to have to contribute, even the inmates,” said Bellotti. “It’s time for the inmates to share that burden.”